1953 Topps Complete Set (274)

25% Nr/Mt to Nr/Mt-Mt, 35% Ex-Mt, 15% Ex, 23% Vg to Vg-Ex, and 2% slightly lesser. This is a simply stunning and extraordinary high-quality complete set of 1953 Topps, one of the most popular and classic of all baseball card sets, highlighted by a world-class example of key card #82 Mickey Mantle. This set was consigned by a noncollector who lived in Indiana as a youngster. He saved his childhood collection of baseball cards, which included 1948 Leafs and 1951 Bowmans, and other cards of the era. When the opportunity arose, though he was not part of the organized collecting hobby in any way and simply because he liked cards, he purchased this 1953 Topps complete set (along with a near-complete 1952 Topps set, offered as a separate lot) from the original owner who assembled them. These sets were purchased in the 1970s and have remained untouched in his closet for over thirty years. When our consignor explained how he happened to have these cards, and brought them in along with his original childhood collection, we were floored. His childhood cards were all over the place for condition, but the 1952 and 1953 sets were simply shocking, by far the best sets that we have ever seen assembled and saved from decades ago, and not assembled one card at a time in the modern era.